Anyone have local staff who occasionally stay overnight upcountry. I need to figure out a reasonable allowance. I would rather do this than have the hassle of paying receipts.

Spoken to a few sales reps in the last few days who usually are on 2 - 5 day road trips. The consensus amongst them is that 400B per day to cover food & accomodation has been reasonable over the past few years.

Obviously all vehicle costs are company resposibility.

Cheers,

Soundman.

Anyone have local staff who occasionally stay overnight upcountry. I need to figure out a reasonable allowance. I would rather do this than have the hassle of paying receipts.

Thai friend has a good connection with a tour van operator .. only pays the "driver per diem" .. Bt 700 .. not sure what the breakdown between "wages" vs. "expenses" might be.

Thanks,

I'll use 400 and see. They might sleep in the truck and pocket the money anyway?

Thanks,

I'll use 400 and see. They might sleep in the truck and pocket the money anyway?

That's not what you want - to have people sleep under bridges and be unable to work properly. Also, a lump sum per day may tempt them to graze grass just to save.

What I would do:

Accommodation bill + up to 400 baht for meals and expenses.

If they use their own car, it's petrol, tolls and certain amount per km for wear and tear (in Oz I had a 2500cc car and it was 33 cents A$ per km.)

Then, pay only the bills (actuals), it is your company's expense.

If you give them a lump sum, it counts as their income and will go atop of whatever they earn and tax is applicable. Then you are in that accounting complication.

.

I've only done this ad hoc a few times but I've paid the accommodation and a daily allowance. Perhaps 70% of the time I have been there and been using a driver.

I offered to put the driver up in the same hotel once in Phetchabun (only Bt1000 a day) and he said no, he'd prefer to sleep local at about Bt300 per day. Food he had with us mostly but he had an allowance paid up front for a few days.

When I didn't accompany them, I think I gave a daily allowance of Bt500 per day to cover all accommodation and meals.